Hospital-bed accessory



March 12, 1957 c. c. DROEGER ETAL 2,784,423

HOSPITAL-BED ACCESSORY Filed Dec. 15, 1954 2 Shets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS CAR L C. DQOEGER and AM no P/VE Y5 United States Patent Fice 2,784,423 Patented Mar. 12, 1957 HOSPITAL-BED ACCESSORY Carl C. Droeger and Carl R. Droeger, Greenfield, Ind. Application December 13, 1954, Serial No. 474,821

9 Claims. (Cl. 5-317) It is common practice in hospitals to secure to the mattress of hospital beds such articles as push-button cords, paper refuse sacks, etc. Usually, such articles are pinned to the lower sheet with safety pins. This procedure has the disadvantage that the articles are not too firmly secured in position and repeated pinning through the sheets injures them to such an extent that their useful life is greatly reduced.

.It is therefore an object of this invention to produce a device which may be employed without damage to the mattress or sheets to hold pushbutton cords, refuse sacks, and similar articles firmly in the desired position at the edge of the mattress. A further object of the invention is to make a device of the type indicated which can be simply and economically manufactured and which will prove durable in use.

In carrying out the invention, we provide a clamp having a pair of relatively movable jaws adapted to extend respectively above and beneath the mattress at one edge thereof and to grip the mattress firmly between them. Conveniently, the jaws are formed with aligned shanks extending into the ends of a guide tube or channel, at least one of the jaw-shanks being slidable in the channel or tube to permit movement of the jaws toward each other. Such tube carries a spring clip: which may be employed to. grip the upper edge of a paper sack. The jaws may be urged toward each other by a tension spring operating between the jaw-shanks and located within the channel or tube, or the spring may be eliminated and the jaws held in mattress-clamping position by means of a bolt or similar appliance.

In the accompanying drawings, .which illustrate the invention,

Fig. 1 is a fragmental perspective view illustrating a corner of a bed with my device applied to the mattress thereon;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, in partial section, of one form of clamping device;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the device shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmental view similar to Fig. 2, again in partial section, illustrating a modified form of clamp;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a fragmental view similar to Fig. 4 illustrating a modified form of bag-gripping clip;

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 77 of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmental view similar to Fig. 6 with portions of the device broken away and illustrated in section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

In Fig. l, we have illustrated a corner of a hospital bed 10 provided with a mattress 11. To the edge of the mattress there is applied a clamp designated in its entirety by the reference numeral 12 and adapted to secure to the bed the flexible cord 13 of a push button 14 and a refuse sack 15.

The clamp, one form of which is illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, comprises an upper jaw and a lower jaw 21 provided respectively with integral, aligned shanks 22 and 23 received in the ends of a sheet-metal member 24. The latter, as shown, is of a general channel-like cross-section. having a web 25, flanges 26. and inturned lips 27 extending toward each other from the edges of the flanges 26. The upper jaw 20 may be secured in fixed position in the upper end of the member 24 as by means of a bolt or rivet 28 extending through the shank 22 and the flanges 26 of the member 24. The shank 23 of the lower jaw 21, however, is longitudinally slidable within the member 24. In the particular clamp shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the adjacent ends of the shanks 22 and 23 are slotted to receive hooks 30 on the ends of a tension spring 31, the hooks being secured in the slotted ends of the shanks as by pins 32. Desirably, the upper jaw 20 is formed with a downwardly presented shoulder 34 which seats against the end of the member 24 to increase the rigidity of the connection between the upper jaw and such member. A similar shoulder 35 may be provided on the lower jaw 21 to limit its upward movement under the influence of the spring 31.

The lower surface of the upper jaw 20 is provided with one or more grooves 36 adapted to receive a flexible pushbutton or light-switch cord. The opposed faces of both jaws may be provided with additional grooves 37 or otherwise made uneven to improve their grip on the mattress; and. for the same purpose, we may provide the opposed faces of the jaws, near their ends, with bosses 38. The

grooves 37, bosses 38 or other provisions employed for such purpose are desirably free from sharp edges and corners which might damage the mattress or a sheet covering it.

For the purpose of holding a sack 15, the web 25 of the member 24 in Figs. 2 and 3 is shown as cut to provide an elongated tongue 40 which is free from the web 25 at its sides and lower end but integral with the web at its upper end. The lower end of the tongue 40 is desirably bent outwardly as indicated at 41 to facilitate insertion of the edge of a paper sack between the tongue and the web 25. When this arrangement is employed, the member 24 is formed of material possessing suflicient resilience to enable the tongue 40 to grip the sack-wall.

In using the clamp shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the upper and lower jaws 20 and 21 are pulled apart as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, and the clamp is applied to the mattress, to which it will remain clamped by the spring 31, which serves resiliently to draw the jaws toward each other. The cord 13 .orother similar cords may be inserted in the grooves 36 provided in the upper jaw, and a paper sack may be supported from the clamp by inserting the upper edge of one of its walls beneath the tongue 40.

In the modification shown in Figs. 4 and 5. the spring 31 is eliminated and the jaws 20 and 21 secured in mattress-clamping position by a bolt 45 extending through the web 25 of the member 24 and the shank 23 of the lower jaw 21. To receive such bolt, the lower jaw-shank is provided with a longitudinally extending slot 46 of T-shaped cross section the wider portion of which non-rotatably receives the nut of the bolt 45. In using the clamp of Figs. 4 and 5, the jaws 20 and 21 may be forced toward each other against the top and bottom surfaces of the mattress and the bolt 45 then tightened to hold the jaws in mattress-clamping position.

The clamp of Figs. 4 and 5 embodies a dilferent form of sack-holding clip from that illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3. Instead of being formed from material of the web 25, the clip 48 of Figs. 4 and 5 is a separate strip of resi ient metal secured at its upper end to the clamp as by a screw 49.

In Figs. 6, 7, and 8 We have illustrated yet another form of sackretaining clamp. In this structure, the clip 50 is formed as a sheet-metal stamping provided with spaced ears 51 which receive the member 24 between them. A bolt or rivet 52 extending through the cars 51 and flanges 26 of the member 24 and through the upper jaw-shank 22 serves as a pivotal mounting for the clip 50. To bias the lower end of the clip 50 to its sack-gripping position, or toward the member 24, we may employ a leaf spring 55 which resiliently urges the upper end of the clip 50 outwardly. Conveniently. the spring 55 is of strip stock bent to provide at its lower end an eye 56 through which the rivet or bolt 52 extends, the lower end of the jawshank 22 being slotted as shown in Fig. 7 to receive the eye 56. The eye 56 may itself be slotted to permit the hook on the end of the spring 31 to be engaged over the rivet or bolt 52. To transmit to the clamp-body the reaction of the clip 50 on the outer end of the clamp 55. the latter may bear against the upper edge of the slot in the jaw-shank 22 or against the upper edge of the slot in the web 25 through which the spring 55 extends.

We claim as our invention:

1. A clump of the type described, comprising a pair of opposed jaws having aligned shanks and opposed, mattress-engaging faces, a tubular intermediate member into opposite ends of .ich said shanks extend, at least one of said shanks being slid-able in said tubular member to vary the distance between said jaws, means cooperating with said movable shank for holding said jaws in mattressgripping relation. and a sack-gripping spring clip on said intermediate member.

2. A clump of the type described, comprising a pair of opposed jaws having aligned shanks and opposed, mattreszvengaging faces, a tubular intermediate member into opposite ends of which said shanks extend, at least one of said shanks being slidable in said tubular member to vary the distance between said jaws, and means cooperating with said movable shank for holding said jaws in mattress-gripping relation, the rnattress'engaging face of one of said jaws being provided with a transverse groove for the reception of a switch-cord and, on opposite sides of said groove. with coplanar surfaces of substantial extent adapted by their engagement with compressible material to prevent such material from entering and occluding the groove.

3. A clamp of the type described, comprising a pair of opposed jaws having aligned shanks and opposed, mat tress-engaging faces, a tubular intermediate member into opposite ends of which said shanks extend, at least One of said shanks being slidable in said tubular member to vary the distance between said jaws, and a tension spring enclosed within said tubular member and acting between said shanks to urge said jaws toward each other.

4. A clamp as set forth in claim 3 with the addition Pill that each of said shanks has a shoulder limiting its entry into said intermediate member, and means for securing one of said shanks in said intermediate member with its shoulder engaging the end of the intermediate member, the other jaw-shank being slidable in said intermediate member.

5. A clamp as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said intermediate member is formed of resilient material, said clip being an elongated tongue integral at one end with the wall of said intermediate member but separated therefrom at its other end and along its sides.

6. A clamp as set forth in claim 1 with the addition that said clip is pivotaliy mounted on said intermediate member, and a leaf spring urging said clip toward gripping position.

7. A clamp as set forth in claim 6 with the addition of a tension spring acting between said shanks, and common means for securing said leaf spring in position and for connecting said tension spring to one of said shanks.

8. in combination with a mattress having upper and lower faces and a side face extending between said upper and lower faces, an upper clamp jaw overlying said upper mattress face, a lower jaw underlying said lower mattressface, an intermediate member extending vertically across the side face of the mattress and having aligned openings in its upper and lower ends, said jaws having integral shanks received in said intermediate member, a sackgripping clamp on said intermediate member and means cooperating wtih said shanks for holding said jaws in mattressgripping position.

9. In combination with a mattress having upper and lower faces and a side face extending between said upper and lower faces, an upper clamp jaw overlying said upper mattress-face, a lower jaw underlying said lower mattressface, an intermediate member extending vertically across the side face of the mattress and having aligned openings in its upper and lower ends, said jaws having integral shanks received in said intermediate member, said upper jaw having in its lower face a transverse groove for reception of a switch-cord, and means cooperating with said shanks for holding said jaws in mattress-gripping position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 469,255 Kyle Feb. 23, 1892 1,760,346 Correa May 27, 1930 2,362,368 Cardella Nov. 7, 1944 2,454,857 Bish Nov. 30, 1948 2,508,076 Palmer May 16, 1950 2,701,883 De Fazio Feb. 15, 1955 

